Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,777 shares of the electronics maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,125,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AYI. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Acuity Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Acuity Brands during the third quarter worth $33,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Acuity Brands during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Acuity Brands by 63.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 172 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Acuity Brands in the third quarter valued at $62,000. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AYI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $304.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Acuity Brands from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $320.00 to $336.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $341.40.

Acuity Brands Trading Down 1.0 %

AYI stock traded down $3.08 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $306.17. 207,077 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 302,425. The company has a market capitalization of $9.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.38. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.64 and a fifty-two week high of $345.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $316.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $299.03.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The electronics maker reported $3.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.87 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $951.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $955.60 million. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.11% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.22%. This is a positive change from Acuity Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Acuity Brands's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.